12/18/2010

Actually, there were around 50 Santas running around the Inner Harbor a couple of weekends ago during Baltimore Dollar Days. These guys were great! They all get together around Christmas to work collecting toys for charities and, after a long day of work, head to the local watering hole for some downtime. Very nice guys!

Dollar Days is a great weekend where many of the downtown Baltimore museums and tourist attractions open their doors for only $1 per person admission. We decided to hit the ships docked in the harbor. Instead of $14 per person, one buck!

I’ve posted a few photographs from our excusion on our SmugMug site. I’d be honored for you to check it out. Please be sure to comment if you like them, and don’t forget to hit the Facebook “Like” button as well.

10/08/2010

"We Americans are reared with the adage ringing in our ears, “Curiosity kills the cat.” To that, I say an emphatic bull#@%*! In fact, Arnold Edinborough says it this way, “Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.”

So true. Be curious! Die nobly!

"I grew up the child of a small southern community in rural USA where most of the residents spend their life and death in a tiny sphere of several miles. Somehow, at the age of twenty-five, I escaped the confines of rural southern culture and moved to the international melting pot called South Florida. Words cannot adequately describe the culture shock of this naive Tennessee country boy and family upon encountering the perceptual view of New Yorkers, Bostonians, New Jerseyans, Cubans, Latinos and the Caribbean."

Culture shock is good! Shock your kids with a trip to a location outside of their comfort zone! Shoot, shock yourselves!

"We need to be shaken from our passivity and isolation. If we consider our world to be boring—it will duly meet our expectations. Travel, on the other hand, causes us to perceive and view the importance of what we’ve already seen with new eyes. As Thoreau challenges us, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

I couldn't agree more. Get shaken from your passivity and isolation! Go and "see"! Love it!

08/10/2010

It’s so hot here in Maryland! Nothing like what our friends and family in the Deep South are experiencing right now. But it’s definitely the dog days of summer. What better way to beat the heat, at least in our imagination, than remembering our couples getaway back in January to St. Michaels, MD? I’ve updated the blog banner with a photograph from our trip…and yes, the bay is frozen over with ice. The temp outside when I took this was about 20 degrees.

Travel doesn’t need to be expensive. Most of us who live in relatively rich countries can travel even if we’re not rich. The reasons why some people don’t travel have less to do with lack of resources and more to do with fear and insecurity. Learning to deal with those valid concerns is a whole separate topic—see here and here for example—but in this post I’ll look strictly at the logistical concerns.

I like to start with an idea in mind: where do you want to go? One of the principles about world travel and life planning is that you can go anywhere in the world by saving $2 a day for an extended period of time. The $2-a-day-principle is helpful—but if you can save more than $2 a day, of course, you’ll be able to save for your trip in even less time.

So then, once you have a goal, how do you make it happen? Let’s look at a few things one by one."

I highly recommend this site. It is inspiring and makes you want to get out and travel. Moreover, it provides tips to the best use of all those frequent flyer miles that you have building up. One site that I use and highly recommend is Flyertalk.com. This is one of Chris' top sites as well.

06/26/2010

1,000 Places to See Before You Die could be considered the “bucket list” for intrepid travelers. There are so many places here that we hope to visit, but it’s going to take a while! So many unknown places to us. Many are exotic and others a bit dangerous. Are we up to it? You bet we are!

We’ve found traveling to be a great family experience. I’m not just talking about being a tourist, but being a true traveler, experiencing the culture as closely and intimately as possible. We’ve done this with our young daughters since their birth. Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panama and other Caribbean islands have been a true experience of life lessons for our girls. Some typical scenes from these travels that have made such lasting impressions on our girls are shown below.

Culebra was one of those trips that our only daughter at the time will not remember. She was only two. But, her continuing interest in other cultures was born, we believe, in these early experiences. Local teenagers are especially interested in getting to know “the strangers” in town. Our girls have been incredible catalysts for our better understanding and enjoyment of the places we visit.

What can I say about Panama? Parts of the trip were so far outside of “normal” for us. Yet, our daughter took it all in stride. The universal language of “candy” is understood even by the most remote tribes of the world. Candy is a great ice breaker for kids! The game of “chase” also is universally understood. So what if you are playing chase underneath roundhouses with naked indigenous kids running around. It’s all good.

Get to know your hotel staff. Leave tips! This fellow was the only cook at the hotel restaurant. He became very aware of our daughters’ preferences in food, and made sure to try to accommodate them as he could. Great guy, and the pleasure of both parties can be seen on their faces.

Our younger daughter can be relied upon to make sure you meet the locals. She loves being the center of attention, and quite often will take it upon herself to make sure she doesn’t miss a thing. Leave it to her to get to know the local restaurant workers and locals. Did we get good service? You bet!

Get out and experience the town! Walk to your destination. Who cares about a little dirt? Sun dresses, sandals, dirt and cows are just find coexisting when you are exploring a new destination.

Folks, don’t wait until it’s too late to expose your kids to other cultures. It teaches lessons, molds minds, impacts attitudes and generates a desire for more travel experiences in them. I truly believe that travel is one of the best learning tools for our kids.

05/04/2010

The deaths of so many is so hard to comprehend. Even at Ground Zero, it’s difficult to get your mind around the fact that it was a place of great death and destruction. The WTC Memorial and Tribute Center is a moving experience, with artifacts, written and spoken testimonials and film from that terrible day providing a respectful tribute to the innocent victims of 9/11.

This photo is from the gallery devoted to the memories of the victims. Photos, personal belongings and other items give a very personal point of view of the tragedy. Our girls, though not fully understanding the full breadth of the events of that day, were noticeably moved.

04/12/2010

You may have noticed the new blog header picture above. I knew immediately upon taking that photo that it would make a good blog header. It's from Boquerón, Puerto Rico at Bahia de Boquerón, one of the most tranquil beaches you'll find in Puerto Rico.

What a way to start our PR vacation! After arriving late into San Juan the night before due to a three hour mechanical issue that delayed our flight, ultimately forcing us to miss our connection in Atlanta, it was a welcome bit of relaxation on our first full day in PR to drive from San Juan across the island to Boquerón for some beach R&R. The we all enjoyed getting to our hotel, the Parador Hotel Boquemar, and heading straight for the beach.

Sunset beach swims are very underrated! The bathwater-warm bay, the sunset, light ocean breezes and the calming sounds of minimal ways lapping onto the beach, all contributed to a great, relaxing start to the week.

That is, until the “no seeums” started to eat Mardi and the girls alive! Oh, and that big splashing fin from some large unidentified sea creature only 30 feet away – yeah, well that ended any chance of a calm romantic swim. Even the locals were fleeing the water with that one!

We love the local, off the beaten path areas of Puerto Rico. If there’s anything that I’d suggest to our traveling friends is to rent a car and get out of the tourist zones (within safe reason, of course) and experience the real culture of your destination. The memories will be much more colorful, fragrant and alive.

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About Jonathan

My
name is Jonathan Hasson and I’m a man on a mission…a mission to
discover as much as I can of the blueprint that God has for me. So far,
the blueprint has held many surprises, some tears and many blessings. It’s
taken me to a place today where I sometimes refer to myself as an
engineer with a creative side hiding inside, dying to escape. That’s
probably an exaggeration...